Jesus in the Meridian of Time Reading Assignment No. 15 Part two: A New Kind of Kingdom

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1 Jesus in the Meridian of Time Reading Assignment No. 15 Part two: A New Kind of Kingdom Introduction The prophet Ezekiel was a priest who lived in Jerusalem at the time of Jeremiah and Lehi. At that time, the Kingdom of Judah was a vassal state of Babylon. In 597 B. C. (which correlates with 600 B. C. in the Book of Mormon) the king of Judah rebelled against Babylon by aligning their allegiance with Egypt. In response, Babylon sieged Jerusalem. After several months, Jerusalem surrendered. The king and many other officials, religious and other leaders were deported to Babylon where they lived the remainder of their lives. Among the deportees was Ezekiel. In was at this time the Lehi and his family left Jerusalem for a new promised land. Five years after his deportation, Ezekiel was called a prophet for other captives. In 587-6, Judah once more rebelled against Babylon. This time, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the majority of Jerusalem s inhabitants were deported to Babylon (see 2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36). Though the Lord sent many prophets to the children of Israel during the years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem, they rejected their message trusting in their graven images and molten images as [their] gods (Isa. 421:17). Thus, when Babylon came Jehovah did not help his people, Israel. In fact, Babylon as Assyria was for the northern Kingdom of Israel was the Lord s agent to bring this humility upon Israel (though they did not know it!). Isaiah said: Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law (Isa. 42:24). Though the Israelites became a wicked people, sinning against God, the Lord placed the blame for their wickedness upon their leaders whom he called shepherds. Through Ezekiel, the Lord said to those who lingered in Babylonian captivity, [P]rophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.(ezek. 34:2-4) It was the duty of Israel s leaders their kings, their judges, and, in particular, their priests (Deut. 33:10). The duty of the prophets was to warn both leaders and citizens when they were straying from the ways of God. An example is found in the story as prophet Azariah the son of Oded who warned all Judah and Benjamin saying that Jehovah is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. The author of the Chornicles then states: Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law (2 Chron. 15:1-3; emphasis added). Sometimes, but not often, the leaders understood the necessity of teaching the Israelites the law of God, for how could they live what they don t know? For example, in the days of King Jehoshaphat, one of the few righteous kings of Judah, sent both princes and priests throughout the kingdom to teach the law of God to God s people: And they taught in Judah, and had the book of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people (2 Chron. 17:9) The chronicler then states that has the people learned and followed the ways of God, And the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah,so that they made not war against Jehoshaphat.(2 Chron. 17:10) Unfortunately, for most of Israel s history, they allowed the word of God to fall to the ground where it was trampled under their feet (1 Sam. 3:19; Al. 5:53; 60:33; 3 Ne. 14:6; Matt. 7:6). The result of this, the Lord said through Ezekiel, was that the sheep were scattered-- And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

2 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. (Ezek. 34:2-6) As the sheep of Israel scattered among the nations of the world, the Lord remembered the promises made to the fathers, particularly those made to Enoch and Abraham, that He would ensure their posterity would have the Gospel. It was Jehovah s intention that he would manifest himself in body to the scattered remnants of Israel. We learn from the Book of Mormon that the Savior, after his resurrection, visited the various groups of Israelites. He began with a visit to Lehi s descendants (3 Nephi 11-28). The Savior told them the Nephites that he was directed of the Father to visit other sheep I have which are not of this fold. He then said: they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd (3 Ne. 15:21). That has been the constant desire of God from the days of Adam. Nephi saw that in the last days, the Lord will gather and number his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture (1 Ne. 22:25). Jacob also foresaw this happening: and they became like unto one body; and the fruits were equal (Jac. 5:74). When Jesus Christ was born of Mary in Bethlehem, the city of David, he was by all rights, the rightful King of Israel (Isa. 43:15). When Gabriel announced to Mary that she would become the mortal mother of Jehovah, he also told her that the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdomthere shall be no end (Luke 32-33). But Israel was NOT in the land promised them for they were scattered over all the earth. Therefore, the kingdom that Christ came to establish would have to differ from the earthly organization that had existed in the days of the patriarchs, or as existed among the Israelites. In this reading we will focus on the kingdom that Jesus Christ would establish while in mortality. It is important to understand the kingdom established by Christ and why he established it differently than prior kingdoms. Why? Because the kingdom of God established by Joseph Smith was organized in like fashion and for the same reasons. As the sixth Article of Faith states: We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth. Figure 1 This is a sheepfold in the fields near Bethlehem. Key Concepts and Teachings I Am the Door of the Sheep We are told by the Apostle John that on one occasion, the Savior was in Jerusalem, where he attended the Feast of Tabernacles one of three major festivals that was to be a pilgrimage for ancient Israel. The temple was the central place of worship for this feast (see Ex. 23:14-19; Deut. 16:1-17). As often happened during His ministry, the Savior experienced a great deal of opposition by the various leaders of the different Jewish sects that existed at that time. These leaders just as the wicked shepherds of ancient Israel were leading the sheep of Israel into unrighteous paths. With Ezekiel 34 in mind, the Savior delivered a stunning declaration of His divinity and His purpose. The opening words of this declaration expressed of what He was about the teach: Verily, verily, I say unto you : Please read John 10:1-10. Figure 2 The door of the sheepfold.

3 A sheepfold is where sheep are kept when not pasturing in fields. They come in all varieties and forms. Figure 1 is a picture of a sheepfold that I used to go to quite often when I was a young student living in Israel. Because Israel is mainly limestone rock, and therefore, caves are found throughout the land of ancient Israel. I used to wander almost daily in the hills in which this sheepfold is found. To this day, one can still find shepherds with their sheep pasturing in this area. As grass is eaten by the sheep, a shepherd must continually be moving his sheep to different places, often several days journey from where he lives. When he finds a new pasturage where he may pasture his sheep for sometime, he must built a sheepfolde where he may keep his safe at night. The entrance to the sheepcote did not have an actual door that wouldn t be practical for a shepherd to carry with him. Therefore, the shepherd himself would sit in the entrance and become the door of the sheep. Figure 2 is a picture my wife took of me later in my life. Once again, I was living in Israel, this time with my wife and five children. One day I took them to the fields I used to wander. We found the old sheepcote. The Savior s teachings in John 10:1-10 reinforce the importance He plays in God s eternal plan. Our worship of Heavenly Father is through Jesus Christ, the door of God s sheepfold. I am the Good Shepherd The wicked shepherds of ancient Israel were concerned only about self. Recall the Lord s words: Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? (Ez. 34:2). To the Jewish leaders of his day, Jesus Christ declared, I am the good shepherd. Please read: John 10: I have spent many, many days watching shepherds in the Holy Land. I have observed a number of things. First, a good shepherd cares for his sheep. He takes care of them. He looks after them. He is constantly with them wherever they are pasturing. These speak of the shepherding of Jesus Christ, the Shepherd of Heavenly Father s sheep. Some of the promises made to the fathers are promises made by Jehovah to Israel. The following wonderful verses Jehovah that covenant with our father s who lost their way and were scattered among the nations: Please read Ezekiel 34: List the promises made in these verses: The Harvest truly is Plenteous Laborers are Few The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, record the Savior s mortal ministry. From these writings we learn that at about the age of 30 years old, the Savior sought out John the Baptist to be baptized. Nephi taught us the purpose of this baptism: [H]e showeth unto the children of men that according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments. (2 Ne. 31:7 emphasis added) The Savior spent the next three years of his life teaching of Heavenly Father and how one may come to live with God forever. People came from the lands all around Judea and Galilee to hear the truths Jesus was teaching. The crowds were got bigger and bigger. There were so many that needed help, even more than the Savior could handle by Himself. Please read Matthew 9: Notice Matthew s use of the sheep metaphore The people were like sheep scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then, using a different metaphor an agricultural metaphor: The harvest is truly is plenteous but the labourers are few. These verses end with a plea: Pray... that [the Lord of the harvest] will send forth laboureres into his harvest. The next chapter answers the plea: the Savior called twelve disciples to become twelve apostles. A new organization was beginning! A New Kind of Kingdom The Church of Jesus Christ When Jesus came, he established a kingdom, different than what had existed from Adam through the monarchies of ancient Israel. It was initially to be a religious and not a political kingdom. It was to be an organization that could exist in many lands and under most forms of governments throughout the world. Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of this in the April 2015 general conference of the Church: D. Todd Christofferson Quorum of the Twelve Apostles Beginning with Adam, the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached, and the essential ordinances of salvation, such

4 as baptism, were administered through a family-based priesthood order.(moses 5:58-59; see also 6:22-23) As societies grew more complex than simply extended families, God also called other prophets, messengers, and teachers. In Moses s time, we read of a more formal structure, including elders, priests, and judges. In Book of Mormon history, Alma established a church with priests and teachers. Then, in the meridian of time, Jesus organized His work in such a way that the gospel could be established simultaneously in multiple nations and among diverse peoples. That organization, the Church of Jesus Christ, was founded on apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. (Eph. 2:20) It included additional officers, such as seventies, elders, bishops, priests, teachers, and deacons. Jesus similarly established the Church in the Western Hemisphere after His Resurrection. ( Why the Church, Ensign, Nov. 2015, 108) Instead of a kingdom administered by high priest, with local priests and Levites, and a chief judge, with local judges, princes and elders, as ancient Israel was initially governed, the Lord built his Church on a different foundation. Let s look at the Apostles teachings regarding the structure of the Church of Jesus Christ: Read Ephesians 2: What provided the foundation of the Church? Read Ephesians 4: What were some of the offices in the Church? What was were the various purposes of the Church? Feed my Lambs; Shepherd my Sheep After the three year ministry, the Savior turned his face to the main purpose of His coming to mortality and will be the object of the next reading assignment to make atonement for the Fall of Adam and for individual sins (D&C 138:19). The Savior s atoning act atonement began in Gethsemane and finished on the cross. He was buried in a tomb and on the third day was resurrected. The Savior made appearances to the twelve apostles and others. John ends his gospel by telling a story unique to his gospel. Peter, with many of the other apostles, returned to Galilee where their homes were. In Galilee there is a beautiful lake called Kinnert. It is better known as the sea of Galilee. It is where Peter, Andrew, James, and John had a fishing business. When they got to lake, Peter said to the others: I go a fishing. And the others went with him. Read John 21:3-17. The message is obvious. But you may want to read through Elder Jeffrey R. Holland s rendition of this event. It is powerful. There is almost no group in history for whom I have more sympathy than I have for the eleven remaining Apostles immediately following the death of the Savior of the world. I think we sometimes forget just how inexperienced they still were and how totally dependent upon Jesus they had of necessity been. To them He had said, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? But, of course, to them He hadn t been with them nearly long enough. Three years isn t long to call an entire Quorum of Twelve Apostles from a handful of new converts, purge from them the error of old ways, teach them the wonders of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and then leave them to carry on the work until they too were killed. Quite a staggering prospect for a group of newly ordained elders. Especially the part about being left alone. Repeatedly Jesus had tried to tell them He was not going to remain physically present with them, but they either could not or would not comprehend such a wrenching thought. Mark writes: He taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him. Then, after such a short time to learn and even less time to prepare, the unthinkable happened, the unbelievable was true. Their Lord and Master, their Counselor and King, was crucified. His mortal ministry was over, and the struggling little Church He had established seemed doomed to scorn and destined for extinction. His Apostles did witness Him in His resurrected state, but that only added to their bewilderment. As they surely must have wondered, What do we do now? they turned for an answer to Peter, the senior Apostle. Here I ask your indulgence as I take some nonscriptural liberty in my portrayal of this exchange. In effect, Peter said to his associates: Brethren, it has been a glorious three years. None of us could have imagined such a few short months ago the miracles we have seen and the divinity we have enjoyed. We have talked with, prayed with, and labored with the very Son of God Himself. We have walked with Him and wept with Him, and on the night of that horrible ending, no one wept more bitterly than I. But that is over. He has finished His work, and He has risen from the tomb. He has worked out His salvation and ours. So you ask, What do we do now? I don t know more to tell you than to return to your former life, rejoicing. I intend to go a fishing. And at least six of the ten other remaining Apostles said in agreement, We also go with thee. John, who was one of them, writes, They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately. But, alas, the fishing wasn t very good. Their first night back on the lake, they caught nothing not a single fish. With the first rays of dawn, they disappointedly turned toward the shore, where they saw in the distance a figure who called out to them, Children, have you caught anything? Glumly these Apostles-turned- again-fishermen gave the answer no fisherman wants to give. We have caught nothing, they muttered, and to add insult to injury, they were being called children. Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find, the stranger calls out and with those simple words,

5 recognition begins to flood over them. Just three years earlier these very men had been fishing on this very sea. On that occasion too they had toiled all the night, and [had] taken nothing, the scripture says. But a fellow Galilean on the shore had called out to them to let down their nets, and they drew a great multitude of fishes, enough that their nets broke, the catch filling two boats so heavily they had begun to sink. Now it was happening again. These children, as they were rightly called, eagerly lowered their net, and they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. John said the obvious: It is the Lord. And over the edge of the boat, the irrepressible Peter leaped. After a joyful reunion with the resurrected Jesus, Peter had an exchange with the Savior that I consider the crucial turning point of the apostolic ministry generally and certainly for Peter personally, moving this great rock of a man to a majestic life of devoted service and leadership. Looking at their battered little boats, their frayed nets, and a stunning pile of 153 fish, Jesus said to His senior Apostle, Peter, do you love me more than you love all this? Peter said, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. The Savior responds to that reply but continues to look into the eyes of His disciple and says again, Peter, do you love me? Undoubtedly confused a bit by the repetition of the question, the great fisherman answers a second time, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. The Savior again gives a brief response, but with relentless scrutiny He asks for the third time, Peter, do you love me? By now surely Peter is feeling truly uncomfortable. Perhaps there is in his heart the memory of only a few days earlier when he had been asked another question three times and he had answered equally emphatically but in the negative. Or perhaps he began to wonder if he misunderstood the Master Teacher s question. Or perhaps he was searching his heart, seeking honest confirmation of the answer he had given so readily, almost automatically. Whatever his feelings, Peter said for the third time, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like: Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn t it obvious then and isn t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me. Then, turning to all the Apostles, He might well have said something like: Were you as foolhardy as the scribes and Pharisees? As Herod and Pilate? Did you, like they, think that this work could be killed simply by killing me? Did you, like they, think the cross and the nails and the tomb were the end of it all and each could blissfully go back to being whatever you were before? Children, did not my life and my love touch your hearts more deeply than this? My beloved brothers and sisters, I am not certain just what our experience will be on Judgment Day, but I will be very surprised if at some point in that conversation, God does not ask us exactly what Christ asked Peter: Did you love me? I think He will want to know if in our very mortal, very inadequate, and sometimes childish grasp of things, did we at least understand one commandment, the first and greatest commandment of them all Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. And if at such a moment we can stammer out, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee, then He may remind us that the crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty. If ye love me, keep my commandments, Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can t quit and we can t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. It was this truth, this reality, that allowed a handful of Galilean fishermen-turned-again-apostles without a single synagogue or sword to leave those nets a second time and go on to shape the history of the world in which we now live. ( The First Great Commandment, Ensign, Nov. 2012, 83-85)

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